ADVANCED OXYFUEL BOILERS AND PROCESS HEATERS FOR COST EFFECTIVE CO{sub 2} CAPTURE AND SEQUESTRATION

This annual technical progress report summarizes the work accomplished during the first year of the program, January-December 2002, in the following task areas: Task 1--Conceptual Design, Task 2--Laboratory Scale Evaluations, Task 3--OTM Development, Task 4--Economic Evaluation and Commercialization Planning and Task 5--Program Management. The program has experienced significant delays due to several factors. The budget has also been significantly under spent. Based on recent technical successes significant future progress is expected. A number of concepts for integrating Oxygen Transport Membranes (OTMs) into boilers and process heaters to facilitate oxy-fuel combustion have been proposed. A detailed modeling plan has been proposed and early modeling work has focused on developing spreadsheet based models for quick engineering calculations. Combustion reactor laboratory scale evaluations efforts have been delayed due to the closing of Praxair's Tarrytown facility in December 2001. Experimental facilities and personnel have been relocated to Praxair's facility in Tonawanda. The facilities have recently been re-commissioned. Work with the OTM development task has also been delayed as early material selections were discarded. More recently, more promising OTM material compositions have been identified. Economic evaluation commenced. Information was acquired that quantified the attractiveness of the advanced oxygen-fired boiler. CO{sub 2} capture and compression are still estimated to be much less than $10/ton carbon